I made a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority several years ago about the High Street Chinese 'medicine' chain, Dr & Herbs and won on most of my complaints.
I've just made another about some of the claims made in their leaflets. I've already posted the correspondence on our Think Humanism forum, so please visit to see what's going on.
Once I get the adjudication, I'll post it there and report the results here.
One question: I've done a couple of these (magnetic therapy, Chinese medicine, psychics), but even though it is extremely easy to win an adjudication, all that seems to happen is that the offenders simply get better at writing their nonsense to get round the letter of the ASA's codes, but still manage to use language that still fools the gullible.
So, do you think that complaining is not only a waste of time, but is actually counter-productive?
It's a never ending battle isn't it?
If we didn't complain and make an issue about these things though, just imagine how much worse it would be.
I imagine the following situation woo healer claims to be able to cure asthma, gets slap from the authority now just sells a herb alongside the true fact that it has historically been used as a treatment for asthma. Technically they're not making any claim of efficacy and as their claim is factual they're beyond reproach. The average man on the clapham omnibus is hardly going to notice the difference and if they do they'll just think it's case of "The Man" interfering with what can be said.
Still it's something. People in part make judgements on advertised claims based upon their level of confidence in authorities to weed out lies. e.g. "They couldn't say it cured asthma if it didn't" As long as people are making such judgements we need peopel like you to bring such flase claims to the attention of the appropriate authorities.
Please keep up the good work. Agreed the buggers are slippery, but only by demonstrating that the law fails to protect, can one move it along. If claims are made and unchallanged, then the ASA goes to sleep and all is assumed to be well. As long as stories continue to crop up in the media about various bogus 'healers' this helps stop such rubbish entering the mainstream by default.Originally Posted by zeno
The problem of the gullible is that caveat emptor remains a powerful impediment to helping all.
I won, of course. Unfortunately, the ASA didn't publish an adjudication, but you can read all the correspondence I had with them on our Think Humanism forum.
Nicely done zeno
zeno,
I don't know if you will read this, but your post inspired me to complain to the ASA about the MIND article here
http://www.mind.org.uk/Information/B...homeopathy.htm
promoting, advertising, homeopathy.
Thank you.
Unfortunately the ASA don't deal with claims made on websites or in books, and it probably doesn't count if they're just giving out misleading information about homoeopathy rather than promoting their own services.
Oh dear. So if you want legitimacy, write a book (which every average person assumes must be true, otherwise it wouldn't have been published) and no-one can do anything about it.
It is an uphill battle.
There is a Chinese medicine shop in my town and I have been wound up more than once on the poster in the window that has diabetes on their list of treatments! I think I will wander in there this weekend and see what they have to say. If I find anything in their advertising, I will follow zeno's example. Thanks for the inspiration zeno - it's just got to be worth the effort in the long run.
The ASA don't do posters in shops or point of sale displays either; that comes down to the local trading standards dept, who probably have a limited budget and would have to satisfy the burden of proof for a successful prosecution (might change after the new consumer protection regs come into force on May 26th). You need to find a leaflet you can take away - it is noticeable that a TCM shop near here makes much more modest claims in its leaflets than it does in its posters.
I bow to your knowledge on this - I have a feeling you have done this before. Although I didn't know the rules about posters it was my intention to see what genuine advertising material they had. My curiosity has been aroused.
I thought the ASA did posters as well, but I could be wrong. It does seem ridiculous that one body isn't responsible for all advertising. IIRC, the ASA weren't originally responsible for TV adverts, but they merged with the body that did, but online adverts are dealt with by Trading Standards.
BTW, I'm glad I've inspired a few others to make complaints as well - keep it up!
Maybe we're not going to change things overnight, but every little helps.
Has everyone read Rose Shapiro's book Suckers: How Alternative Medicine Makes Fools Of Us All or Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst's book Trick or Treatment?: Alternative Medicine on Trial?
Mojo: What's the new legislation, or is it the law that psychics got all hot under the collar about last week? (Why didn't they see it coming?)
Might it be billboards, not flyers stuck in shop windows, that they regulate?I thought the ASA did posters as well, but I could be wrong.
I’ve just received a letter from the ASA. As Mojo said, they couldn’t deal with my complaint. Their Code only applies to certain kinds of material on websites. Quote –
“They are:
The letter suggested I contact CAB or Trading Standards.
- Online ads in space that’s been sold by the website owner to a third party, e.g. banner and pop-up ads.
- Sponsored search results (i.e. the links advertisers pay search engines to offer when you enter particular search terms)
- Sales promotions. We regulate these wherever they appear, including in advertisers’ websites or e-mails. (Examples of sales promotions are free gifts and prize competitions; simple price cuts and savings claims aren’t sales promotions and we can’t investigate them.”
Still, they responded quickly, and in a helpful manner.
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